The Star Reflection
by mxmagic
Summary: Planet Chau Sara. It is three years after Kerrigan defeated the three fleets over Char. Two protoss and two terrans are fighting alone in a rebellion against the Dominion and the Kel-Morian Combine. Will they find their destiny there?
1. Chapter 1

**The Star Reflection**

**Chapter I – The Red Morons**

Maeltras dashed for cover as he heard the sound of a firing siege tank.

"_How many seconds was that? Five or si…_" – and the brave terran lost his thought as the ground behind him exploded, throwing bits of gravel and sand into to the air.

"_Five_"

Maeltras was lucky enough; he wasn't struck by the actual shell (which would have surely ripped him apart). However, his 'borrowed' Dominion powered armor got a little damaged in the back, or so the indicators said. He stumbled for a moment, but run on. Now he had plenty of time to get to the factory, which could shelter him from the Arclite's shock canon attacks for a while. Suddenly, he felt that someone wants to communicate with him. He recognized the telepathic image of his protoss comrade, Tashara.

"_Maeltras, where are you?_" a rather tired and as always creepy voice asked in his mind.

"_I am entering the factory Tashara. It is south east of the base complex. Oh, you are in there. Excuse my foolishness, I am exhausted. Michelle is with you as well I see. Where is Fenris? " _Maeltras replied, surprised at the effort that he used for such a short answer. The psi attack he had unleashed on that bunch of Dominion Goliath walkers drained much of his energy.

"_He is trying to sneak near the tank in order to dispatch it. We found four vultures in the factory's hangars. They could be useful in helping us to escape from this place, before the bomb goes off_", said Tashara, livening up a little.

"_Good idea_", thought Maeltras as he entered the factory. He didn't have time to look for doors so he had to use the ramp, on which the vehicles left the building. The tall terran noticed that the plant was clearly in a b a d state. It was a little bumped on the outside alright, but the inside was disastrous. White smoke was coming out of the silver robotic arms, which constructed machines. Some looked as if precisely sliced by a sword, with one part lying on the steel floor and the other hanging uselessly like a creeper in a jungle. Metal parts were scattered on the floor as if an Ultralisk went through the hall. Wheels, bits of a caterpillar mounting, huge legs of Goliaths: basically everything that a terran ground unit could have, inside or outside. All the control panels were down and the screens that accompanied them were flashing blood red. Maeltras spotted one that still showed the Terran Dominion logo, the hated arm with a whip. He took out a pistol he found before in the barracks and pulled the trigger, aiming at the screen.

"This is nothing in compare to the beautiful icon which represents the Sargas tribe!" he snapped as the monitor broke into a million pieces. Maeltras left the main hall of the factory and followed corridors which lead to the hangars of the building. As he drew closer, he felt the presence of Michelle and Tashara more and more distinctly. Soon he halted as two female figures emerged before him at the other end of the hangar. Michelle, with her long dark hair lying loose on her special, gray, ghost-like suit and Tashara, were both standing at the end of the corridor. As the distance between the terran guy and the protoss girl shrunk, their sparkling blue eyes went dark gold. The two of them always felt a certain ecstasy when they saw each other, ever since they met for the first time, on Auir. However, what Maeltras felt was more as if someone opened his chest with a blade and poured balsam inside it, while Tashara thought that her senses drowned in the calming power of a Khydarian crystal. Nevertheless, the fact that they kept deep feelings for each other was self-evident.

"Good to see you, Maeltras! Look what we've found!" Michelle greeted him warmly, glancing at the neatly parked vulture hover bikes and clapping her hands like a little girl from kindergarten. The man smiled to her politely, an emotion he didn't fully understand and learnt from the terran girl herself.

"Now we just have to wait for Fenris then" said Maeltras, closing his eyes and trying to sense his protoss in a telepathic link. He was supposed to be near the siege tank, but… Maeltras couldn't feel him. He focused, more intensively this time, to get a clearer image.

"_A group of Dominion marines…five of these…three people making up the crew of the…_

_The tank._

_It is still there."_

"_And it is not shooting at us_" said Tashara, who followed Maeltras' thoughts and included Michelle in the telepathic link.

"You're talkin' about the Arclite? Well, I think it's quite obvious why it's not aiming the factory. These Dominion soldiers don't know that that dumb ass their commander ran away and doomed this base by activating the demo charge" broke in the terran girl.

"Michelle is correct," muttered Maeltras, getting more and more worried about his, a little weird, but loyal and courageous friend. He swallowed nervously and continued, "Anyway, we have to get Fenris out of there. Tashara, you mind the vultures. I and Michelle are going to look for him."

"_OK. Good luck_."

Michelle's dark gray combat suit made a screeching noise, as always when she transformed herself. She was not a normal terran, although she used to be. Since her birth, she possessed inactive abilities to change form, deriving probably from her high psi index. When Emperor Mengsk the First of the Terran Dominion and his temporary allies lost the battle on the infested platform over Char, he knew that he's going to need different sorts of super weapons to fight his enemies when the time comes. He created a secret laboratory complex on Chau Sara, the first planet that fell to the Zerg (and to the Protoss, shortly afterwards). No one really knew how did his scientists acquire Michelle, but it's certain that she spent at least two years in the labs. That's where her skills for changing form were discovered and developed. Of course, the first step was neural resocialization. After that she had a lot of major operations, many of which she survived only accidentally. One of them, however, was a breakthrough; the scientists placed some genes from a scorpion like creature called scantid in the most psionicly developed part of her brain. It was just an experiment. However, after the operation, Michelle's brain put her in a short, one day coma. During that coma her entire body was altered, the genes of a scantid spread all over her. When she woke up the next day, the first thing she did was a transformation into the famous Korhal IV's scorpion. It was just like an instinct for her. The same way that a predator hunts, she has to change form.

The metamorphosis was not perfect though. Her hands changed into pincers, more legs came out of her torso, she got a long tail, her skin got tough and black and her posture altered to fully resemble that of a scantid. Her eyes went evilly red and her snowy teeth were replaced by two brass-colored fangs. However, her face kept some features which gave it the look similar to that of her 'natural' face. Sometimes it was her long but slender nose, sometimes the s-shaped scar she bore on her chin. That rule applied to all her later mutations as well.

Mengsk's scientists, content of their discovery, supplied Michelle's body with genes of every other creature they could get, and so she was soon able to transform herself into a huge Ursadon, a panther-like Bengalaas and the peaceful Kakaru. The more the psionic woman metamorphosed and trained as a particular critter, the more her abilities as each evolved. Speed, agility and strength were some of these aspects. As an Ursadon she was stronger than the gigantic Ultralisk and the mutalisk would be a piece of cake for her Kakaru form.

Obviously, she was not the only experiment of that kind in the complex. The Dominion possessed a protoss prisoner of war, whom they received as a gift from some minor mercenary group. Experimentations carried on him were not as sophisticated as the ones Michelle had, though. In the beginning he was simply drugged and neurally resocialised. The poor alien lost nearly all his pride, creativity and moral decency he was once probably full of.

After Kerrigan's ascension, Mengsk's 'doctors' got the idea of producing a cyborg out of the protoss. His build was ideal for that; the blue-skinned templar with flashing golden eyes was enormously muscled. Mechanics equipped him with a mini shock canon instead of his right arm, while his left hand was replaced by a robotic, three-fingered one. A special piece of armor was also crafted for him. It consisted of just a few metal bands, a rather huge bag pack for ammunition and adamant underpants. Each grayish band was supplied with a defensive matrix generator, secretly powered by the psionic abilities of the protoss. Two were placed on his forearms, one on his torso (around the area where the terrans would have a belly button), two on his legs (just above his knees) and one on his forehead, placed like a tiara on the head of a queen. On each piece you could find five small, convex circles and tiny, blue balls of energy, whirling constantly inside the round shapes. There was also a mounted, C-18 Heavy Impaler gun on the tiara-like band, parallel to the left temple of the extraterrestrial being. In order to aim the weapon he received a sight, which hanged from the band and covered his left eye. The glassy material inside it was flaming red and gave the muscular protoss a really tough look. Of course, the device was not only there to look good, but provided essential information for training the cyborg's weapons on enemy targets.

And so when the cyborg was finished, he was sent on a few missions. Most of them consisted of killing dangerous animals and learning to cooperate with the brain-panned marines. The latter was very hard in the beginning. The brain-washed alien needed a competent ghost to teach him how to communicate. Fortunately for the Dominion, he learnt it quite quickly. However, he wasn't able to use the comm. unit because the protoss simply couldn't speak. He had to send thoughts to all soldiers near him simultaneously. This way his ability to 'whisper' thoughts to a particular being was lost forever. Neither Tashara nor Maeltras could later restore Fenris' skills. Yes, that robotized protoss was Fenris, having received the codename after he single-handily dispatched a lost Torrasque, which hailed from the Zerg brood of Fenris. Both he and Michelle were rescued from the laboratory by Maeltras and Tashara. The muscular, bionic man spent three years there, counting from the year when the Zerg defeated the three fleets over Char. The terran woman was caught a year after the war ended, and so she has been in the complex for 'just' two years.

The story of their leader, Maeltras, is also an intriguing one. Although his name suggests that he is a pure protoss, a true defender of Auir and the Khala…

He was in fact a terran.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II – The Terran Templar**

When only two years old, Maeltras was abducted and infested by the Zerg. Fortunately, the infestation was at its very early stages when a small fleet of the protoss liberated the baby. It was only its mind, and so its psi that was altered, not the body. The civilized aliens decided to keep the baby, raise it by themselves and train as a templar. Maeltras was given to the most war-like tribe of the protoss, the Sargas. Soon his masters found out that his abilities are much unlike that of the high and dark templar, but nevertheless on a real good level. And so he lived peacefully on Auir, until the war started. And when it did, twenty-year old Maeltras fought alongside his firstborn brethren, serving under the mighty executor Tassadar. He was a powerful warrior, but he had to assist the zealots. Nonetheless, his decent tactical abilities were not respected enough by the protoss commanders, and this is exactly why he left them just after the failing combat over Char. If he did not, he probably wouldn't come across a signal from his love…

A signal from Tashara.

For indeed, he saved her life, just as the two of them later saved Fenris and Michelle. After kidnapping Tashara, Kerrigan had plans to accustom her to her minions. Maeltras was just in time though, and only the right arm of the protoss woman suffered from serious infestation. They ventured to Shakuras, until Tashara's health was fully restored. Then, they decided to establish some sort of a rebellion against Mengsk and Kerrigan, but they didn't want to join any of the factions openly. What they thought was that the usefulness of their skills would be limited, mainly because they would have to cooperate with soldiers of much dissimilar (and mostly worse) capabilities.

The warlike pair bought a scout, which they used on their journey to Chau Sara. Setting up two-people guerrilla warfare there was surprisingly easy. The Kel-Morian combine and the Terran Dominion stationed there already, but their presence was at a quite early stage; the most dangerous troops and machines were to be released yet. After about a year of killing lonely groups of marines they found a secret laboratory complex….from which they were able to set free two special subjects. When Michelle and Fenris joined their ranks, their revolt gained in importance. From then they were able to give their enemies a really hard time.

"Wakey-wakey Maeltras! What's the plan?" he heard Michelle's voice as they were speeding through the corridor.

"Umm….you could convert to the Kakaru. I need you to get rid of that tank. I will use stimpacks to get to these five marines quickly."

"Be careful though," she paused for a little. Suddenly, an idea sparkled in her head and she added, "Ya know what, I could grab you with my tail and drop you near them marine guys. You won't have to take these awful steroids."

They were running pretty fast and the factory's exit was at hand.

"I like your proposal. You do that then. I will prepare my arsenal" stated Maeltras, swiftly switching the used magazine in his pistol for a fresh one and activating the psi-blade generator that he mounted to the wrist of his marine armor. The building's ramp trembled as the two fighters ran across it. Michelle pressed a few colorful buttons that were attached to the palm of her suit, so that it would adjust to her Kakaru form. It started beeping. And then in a blink of an eye the pretty girl metamorphosed in to the famous bird-like critter from Shakuras. Much less ordinary she looked though, her skin hardened, her size a bit bigger and the end of her tail armed with tough quills, ready to exterminate the foes of its owner. Maeltras raised his arms, so that his psi-blade wouldn't hurt Michelle's tail, while she wrapped it around him and flew up. They both glanced at the base. Most of its defensive systems were down; all but three bunkers existed no longer. Supply depots that were widespread suffered less, but they were going to burn down pretty soon anyway. The barracks was now a few pieces of flaming, twisted metal and all the other buildings were nothing more but patches of wasteland. However, the command center still stood proud. Maeltras spotted their targets right beside it, clear and distant from them by about two hundred meters. Michelle raised herself up and glided in the direction of the Dominion soldiers. As they enclosed on their enemies, the marines opened fire in their direction, missing constantly, thanks to Michelle's great maneuvering. They were so close; she was just about to weaken her grip on Maeltras and drop him to the wilderness of battle….but all of a sudden a sound of a fired shock canon rang in their ears and the Arclite exploded, its turret flying high above the ground and leaving the wreck, letting it burn to ash in loneliness. Michelle winged up subconsciously, as the detonation caught her unaware. Maeltras calmed her down immediately, for he now felt that Fenris was close; it was even more crystal, since only he possessed a shock canon with such a distinctive, muffled sound. A telepathic scream followed and Michelle laughed (as far as squawking of a Kakaru could be considered a laugh, that is).

"_Die you red morons!" _shouted Fenris ferociously, as he emerged from behind a lit supply depot. His heavy impaler roared, cutting through the astonished marines like a shovel through the ground. Fenris moved to the battlefield and beckoned to his friends to land. Michelle obeyed, cautiously letting Maeltras go and changing back to her human shape.

"_Wassup punks! Ah sees you got problems with 'em bad guys! Where were ya even?" _spoke Fenris' proud voice. Maeltras found it funny and even after these few months he still couldn't get used to his colleague's way of talking. His voice was aristocratic, contrasting much with the provincial slang that he made use of.

"There is no time for idle talk, Fenris. This base will soon end its misfortunate existence, along with us, unless we leave this place at once," Maeltras replied swiftly.

Fenris made a fist out of his only palm and shook his head.

"_The bomb's not real, boss. Them bastards just wanna let us believe that it's da bomb that'll knock us down. They got....more..."_

"What do you mean?" asked Michelle, a little disturbed.

"_Mengsk is pissed at us like hell. He's sending reinforcements. About thirty wraiths, ordered to hunt us down, no matter the cost."_

Maeltras heard Michelle swearing under her breath.

"Are you certain about that?" he asked lifelessly.

_"Like the fact that this planet is Chau Sara."_

Everybody gazed at Maeltras. He HAD to have some tactics; he HAD to know some way they could get out of this terrifying situation. And so he soon spoke up:

"This is a threat indeed. But we will be able to outrun the wraiths, if only the vultures possessed ion thrusters."

"_They do not_" they all heard Tashara's mental voice.

"I need time to work it out...." muttered Maeltras, glancing around. The command center somehow grabbed his attention.

"Fenris."

"_Yea?"_

"You go and check if the lift-off mechanisms in the command center are functional. Michelle, you patrol the area in search of useful tools. I will help Tashara bring the vultures over here. En taro Adun!" and the whole team got down to their tasks vigorously.

* * *

_"Yea-huh!!!" _screamed Fenris as the three hover-bikes launched on the desert of Chau Sara. Only three turbines were operating, but Michelle transformed herself into the Bengalaas, catching up with the altered vultures without a fuss. The speed they reached was even higher than that that the best ion thrusters could provide them with.

"_Do not rush with your shouts. We are not yet victorious_." admonished Tashara. The whole three was able to talk telepathically, so the velocity did not disturb them. They included Michelle in the link, but of course she wasn't able to answer.

_"I knows that alright, oh queen of the obvious_," riposted Fenris, and continued shortly afterwards,"_So, we got some transport, but what do we do now? Sure, the fuel won't last forever and we can't run from the wraiths endlessly."_

_"Do not be troubled my friend. There is a missile turret complex in a nearby Kel-Morian base. We could try to take control over them and use them to our advantage." answered Maeltras._

_"Huh, but I do wonder how ya gonna do it. Go there and ask'em nicely?"_

"_We will figure out a solution somewhat. These computers should not be too difficult to manipulate. Of course, if you know a better way..."_

_"Umm....god ya're right," _said the robotic protoss, as he felt kind of embarrassed and wanted to quit the topic as fast as possible_, „I suppose you set us on the right route, eh Maeltras? We're headin' to'em turrets?"_

_"Precisely,"_answered Maeltras, not even one bit angry at his companion,"_I hope we are not going to encounter much enemy resistance. Actually, even if they had a few siege tanks, which I am sure they own not, they would cause no greater complications. Speed is our main beneficial factor now, and it turns the extraordinary power of an Arclite almost useless."_

_"We have to be deliberate on our maneuvering, though_," warned Tashara,_"Remember to spread out and watch for incoming shells."_

The rebels rode on, talking about their most glorious operations, about the protoss tribes and about Auir. But calm, two hour conversation was probably too much to ask for.

_"What's that?" _asked Fenris as he saw a ball of fire on the sky, coming in at a really quick pace. Michelle roared, stopping and changing back to her human form. The rest acted analogically with their crafts.

"Some kind of a meteor, perhaps." said the mutant girl, not particularly interested in observing the object. But Tashara and Maeltras were deeply concerned about it, for they recognized the slender line of a protoss carrier. A certain feeling of longing it awakened in them. They hoped that the carrier's shields would cover its deck from any significant damage. This way it'll still be useful for them, with its crew or without it. As the vessel drew closer, Tashara spotted many features which a normal carrier did not possess.

"_We have to be first at this ship's crash site! Move it! Michelle, Kakaru again please. Go!" _Maeltras issued orders swiftly.

***


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III – The Voice of the Ancients**

"What's THAT doing here?" said Michelle, as quickly as her voice strings regained their ability to speak.

"_Warping was not always so obvious for the protoss as it is now_," replied Tashara, starting her explanation. She knew much more than Maeltras, as her age was ten times longer than his,"_Beginnings were actually very hard. Hundreds of years ago, when from time to time the warping systems failed, they teleported things to an inappropriate place on the time line. This carrier probably dates from such times. I think it was to be an important capital ship, as it is really tough. Its shields....they did not suffer too much_."

The whole four stared at the carrier with absolute awe. They never saw such a marvelously crafted vessel in their life. It was similar to a standard carrier, apart from a few key features. On its top glimmered jewels in nearly every possible color. Its lines were unusually harmonic, the emotion strengthened by additional arcs, curving from the ship's fuselage.

"_Let's get in!_" shouted Fenris, breaking the silence and beginning his run in the carrier's direction.

"_Fenris, do not_!" Maeltras warned him, but the cyborg's confidence was too strong.

"_How do you get in_?" Fenris wondered aloud. He decided to touch the glittering deck. His cold palm reached it and....without warning, he was brutally dragged onto it, his defensive matrices shut down and his body hanging still on the ship's wall. Then a beep sounded and Fenris got highlighted in red, as if the vessel scanned him thoroughly. After that performance it let him go, and so he fell on the sand.

"Fenris! Are you OK?" asked Michelle. The three went up and helped their kinsman to get up. Meanwhile, the carrier opened its doors and let out a platform (a golden one, of course). It halted on a dune, its grace welcoming and somewhat beckoning our heroes to get in.

"_I'm...alright....jes' a bit dizzy_." Fenris managed to answer, trying to regain balance.

"_Shall we enter_?" Maeltras threw a question, directing it to no one specific.

"_What is wrong with your senses, dear? Nobody is inside_." replied Tashara, making her companions aware of the fact. "_It should be safe to move in. And even if it is some sort of a trap....having a capital ship at our command is most certainly worth the risk_."

"Agreed." mumbled Michelle, while Maeltras and Fenris simply nodded.

They found the inside just as breathtaking as the outside. The platform lead them to something that looked like a captain's bridge. The room was not too big. An orange cylindrical stool was positioned in its center. Walls were full of screens, which were framed with golden runes of protoss writing. The biggest screen was on the wall in front of them.

"_I am going down to the armory. I am fond neither of this suit nor of that weapon_." said Maeltras, already walking down the stairs. Tashara went up to the largest screen, with an intention to activate it. But all of a sudden, she noticed that something is behind the stool. It was a protoss, yet it appeared to be some sort of a caricature. It was very small, barely half the average size. It had a nose and lips, just like terrans do. Its skin was pale green and its eyes....it had none, only empty space where they belonged. It opened its mouth and began to speak with an emotionless voice.

"You, who drink - to the grave with you! You, who smoke - to the grave with you! You, who let others suffer - to the grave with you! You, who are posh - to the grave with you..."

Tashara and Fenris stood in silence, amazed by the being talking. Nevertheless, Michelle found it in fact rather funny, and started giggling. The creature continued.

"You, who kill - to the grave with you! You, who are indecent - to the grave with you..." and at that point Michelle just plainly couldn't suppress and burst out with loud laughter. The alien finally reacted, switching its tone to an angry one.

"You laugh? - to the grave with you!" it cried, and vanished, as if it was only a hallucination. Michelle instantly stopped laughing. Fenris was about to say something, but it seemed that the show was not over. The main screen switched itself on. At first it presented a grid, on which a few seconds later appeared the figure of Fenris. It was him, but....when he wasn't yet a cyborg. No metal parts, only a short, purple robe covering the area around his hips. The figure was resized and moved to the left, uppermost corner of the monitor. A message was displayed beneath. What it said, was shocking.

"**Owner initialized.**

**....**

**Tribe: Auriga**"

Fenris swallowed, excitement mixing with fear in his mind. Who _was _he in reality? He mustered to read the rest of the message.

"**High member of the Conclave**

**Judicator Danimoth**."

Fenris was overwhelmed. His knees bent and the sound of them hitting the floor stayed in his head. Shortly afterwards, Michelle and Tashara fell down....

....Fenris' psi cry silenced everything....

Tashara got up as soon as she recovered her consciousness. She blinked, as she thought she saw a god in front of her. Indeed, now Maeltras almost resembled a divine being. His armor was glowing in orange, even though it seemed to look just like a standard zealot suit. All the blue gems were replaced by orange ones as well. Tashara couldn't tell if there are any more differences, maybe apart from lack of psi-blade generators, but still Maeltras looked rather glorious in it. In his hand he carried a richly ornamented stick. On its side there was a tiny, rectangular hole. Maeltras raised the weapon, activating it.

"_A psi-axe_," marveled Tashara, getting up,"_You look magnificent._"

Maeltras glanced at the axe, which was made out of a violet beam. He noticed that something was wrong.

"_Where is Fenris_?" he asked, but immediately read Tashara's memories.

"_We have company. Dominion military. It is not just some fighters. A squadron of goliaths supported by a ghost is on the first line. Then the wraiths that Fenris was talking about. What the last one consists of - Adun only knows_."

Tashara quickly ran up to him and they hugged each other, as they always did when they faced a really threatening situation.

"_Try and prepare this ship for battle_," he said slowly, _„I will help Fenris. And tell Michelle to come over, as soon as she wakes up. If we are to be lost to the Khala..._"

"_Then lost we shall be..." _she whispered softly. Maeltras let her go shortly afterwards and sprinted out of the carrier. Tashara stood for a time, but when she realized that the moment is gone she got to the main screen and started her adjustments. She didn't even detect that Michelle ran to battle right after Maeltras.

Unfortunately, after clicking a few panels, Tashara was sure of one thing: setting up the craft won't be an easy objective.

"_I was such a proud being and now...? What have they done? How DARE they? They will pay. I need revenge. I need it. Like hell. Oh, and what do we have here? Mmm...yummy, a dozen of goliaths. Anything else? Ho ho ho! A ghost! That dumb head probably thinks that I don't knows he's there. Huh! Cloaking is nothing for the sight that they equipped me with. And who is down there, now? Hey Maeltras! Over here! And Michelle as well! Now that's some company. Never mind. I have to kill. Wreck enemies. Wreck 'em all!"_

Maeltras heard a strong roar so he turned around, just to see a gigantic Ursadon running behind him. He was glad that Michelle was close, for together they had a higher chance for success. He stopped to set his armor to a special mode and charged on the goliaths. He knew that Fenris will be attacking their left wing, so he had to strike the right one. Even though the cyborg was in rage, from the tactical point of view he was still thinking clearly. Maeltras watched with respect as he destroyed a leg of one of the mechs, causing it to fall on another one. The other one also lost its stability and pushed a third walker, so in just a shot Fenris neutralized three goliaths! The remaining nine agnized the stupidity of their formation and spread out. When Maeltras was near enough them, the vehicles opened fired from their twin canons. Even so, their shells were too weak to damage his armor in any significant way. The powerful terran rushed at one, took a swing with his psi-axe, cutting both of the goliaths legs and letting the turret break on the ground. He acted analogically with another two that happened to be not far. His friends were also quite busy. Michelle-Ursadon easily ran over two goliaths, burying them under her hooves. She also impaled a pilot a pilot of a different one on her tusk, and then threw his machine at an incoming walker. They fell in the process and once again Michelle stamped on them, just to be sure. The last two exploded, as a result of a shock canon bombardment they were gifted with from Fenris. No sign of the ghost indicated that his courage was probably in pieces.

"_You better now_?" asked Maeltras as he came up to his protoss comrade.

"_Yea, thanks. I needed to ruin something_," replied Fenris,"_ Never mind. Maybe I wuz a judicator, but that's no longer truth. Now I'm Fenris and I don't wanna be nothing else....but enough of that lousy talk. When are the wraiths coming_?"

"_We have ten minutes. But we will not be able to stop them, unless Tashara converts the carrier functional. Even if you possessed a bag pack full of shock canon shells_."

Fenris peeped at the ammo indicators on his bag pack. The impaler bullets container was nearly full, but only ten canon shells were left. He cursed.

"Hey! Don't worry, we'll prevail somehow," said Michelle, back in her ordinary form,"I'll change myself to the Kakaru..."

"_And you will be ripped apart by a volley of gemini missiles_," Maeltras interrupted her, burning out the optimism from her face,"_This is no plan. We have to get them clustered up so that my psi-whirlwind could exterminate most of them. Then, you could meta morph in order to finish off the rest_."

"_Sounds like some good tactics_," spoke Fenris,"_But how are ya gonna get 'em clustered up?"_

"_I do have a few ideas, yes_." Maeltras answered him, dashing for the carrier.

Michelle zigzagged, as the burst lasers tossed the sand all around her. Being followed by thirty wraiths was hardly her dream. Fortunately, she was not an easy target as the Bengalaas. In the distance she saw Maeltras in his orangish armor, ready to cast. The fighters were not properly bunched up, so it was nearly sure that only half of them will be eliminated in the whirlwind. Suddenly, Michelle heard a familiar sound, coming in from the sky. An enormous battlecruiser emerged, launching its Yamato canon at the wraiths and turning them to ashes in place. Maeltras recognized the battlecruiser as the Hyperion, the capital ship of James Raynor. The Dominion crafts quickly changed their target, unleashing rockets on the new foe. The Hyperion revealed its laser canons and also opened fire, suppressing the light armor of the fighters. Michelle transformed to the Kakaru without thinking and started hammering random wraiths with her armed tail.

"_Nothing we can do now but watch_." said Fenris to his boss, who looked at him sharply.

"_We need to see what the third line is made of. Follow me_." replied Maeltras, and so both of them ran to the desert.

The Hyperion looked dreadful. A skirmish with the wraiths wasn't too hard, but a shot from the Yamato canon had a definitely negative effect on the vessel. Four behemoth-class battlecruisers, which composed the third wave, were the worst of nightmares both for Raynor and Maeltras. Tashara, Fenris and their leader desperately tried to make the carrier work, but failed nonetheless. Maeltras told Fenris to continue checking the screens, while he and Tashara will try getting one of the battlecruisers down with their psionic abilities. The whole four was busy engaging the Hyperion, so they had no problem getting near them. Tashara had to strike first. She raised her infested arm, giving a sign to the small bacteria that lived in it to come on to the surface. She waited till enough of them accumulates, roughly as many as the defiler would use to plague an area. Then, she closed her eyes and focused on the microorganisms, throwing them on the battlecruiser with supersonic speed. They rapidly spread all over the vessel, eating up its armor. Maeltras casted his whirlwind shortly afterwards. The powerful cyclone broke the weakened craft into three parts, which later exploded,one after another. They knew that all was lost, for the Hyperion could succumb to the enemy fire in any minute now. They ambled to the carrier and rechecked all the screens. Nothing.

"_**Let me do this for you**_." the whole three heard a spooky voice from nowhere. And then, all of a sudden, the carrier lifted up. It opened the down part of its deck, reaveling a massive gun.

THE PLANET CRACKER.

Before the Dominion battlecruiser commanders realized what's going on, their ships were torn apart by the devastating might of the planet crackers blue ray. It literally sucked in the huge vessels.

"So, what are you? And what made you help us?" asked Raynor, feeling a little weird as he spoke to a ball of energy.

"_Do not be prejudiced by my appearance, for I have many, James Raynor_."said the creature. Maeltras' team was impressed by its gentle and proud manner of speaking.

"_You all know something about the Xel'Naga_," continued the creature,"_Not all of it is actually true, but it does not matter. What does matter is that many of them want to destroy you, as a revenge for the fleet that was overwhelmed, first by the Protoss, and later by the Zerg. But some, like me, found the alliance between the protoss and the terrans beautiful. All we want is your success, so that you will rule the whole sector. But what for now, I recommend you return to Shakuras and lick your wounds. I will speak to you again, when the time comes. No danger awaits you from the Xel'Naga. At least for the time being. Farewell_."

The ball disappeared immediately after the voice had finished.

"The best we can do know is listen to that," commented Maeltras," It would be an honor for us if you stayed on our ship for the whole journey to Shakuras, James Raynor."

"No problem, buddy."

Maeltras glanced at the stars. Their beams seem so faint and so weak....and still they are able to travel such a huge distance. He was amazed at how the stars secretly interfered with each other. Not in any spectacular way. Just, with a bit of light. But each bit of light could be reflected.

For reflection is the key.

THE END


End file.
